Conventionally, a window regulator is used in the vehicle door so as to raise and lower the windowpane by a drive force of a motor. One of such window regulators is a self-propelled window regulator configured that a motor thereof moves together with a window glass (see, e.g., JP-A-2006-257764).
The window regulator described in JP-A-2006-257764 is provided with a fixed portion fixed to a vehicle door so as to extend along the travel direction of the window glass, and a drive unit to move the window glass. The drive unit has a motor as a drive source and moves together with the window glass. The fixed portion extends in a door height direction and guides the movement of the drive unit.is provided with a fixed portion fixed to a vehicle door so as to extend along the travel direction of the window glass, and a drive unit to move the window glass. The drive unit has a motor as a drive source and moves together with the window glass. The fixed portion extends in a door height direction and guides the movement of the drive unit.
In more detail, the fixed portion has a rack bracket fixed to the door and a rack fixed to the rack bracket. The drive unit has a pinion gear rotationally driven by the motor and a housing for supporting the pinion gear and the motor. The pinion gear has pinion teeth which mesh with rack teeth formed on the rack. If the pinion gear is rotated in a state that the rack teeth mesh with the pinion teeth, the drive unit moves together with the window glass along a longitudinal direction of the rack bracket (a vertical direction).
The rack teeth of the rack are formed to protrude toward the rear side of the door, and the pinion gear is arranged on the rear side of the door relative to the rack. The motor is arranged further on the rear side of the door beyond the pinion gear and is aligned with the rack and the rack bracket in the front-back direction of the vehicle. The rotational axis of the motor is orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the rack bracket.